Synergy
'Synergy' A Sin-Eater in alignment with his attendant geist benefits from the close connection, which grants a certain peace of mind and an affinity for the little details of the Underworld. Sin-Eaters who flout the needs of their geist or who reject or abuse their relationship to the Underworld can quickly spiral into a circle of degeneration that deadens the Psyche and makes the Sin-Eater’s job as a psychopomp very difficult to complete. Of course, no Sin-Eater is perfect, so more than a few give in to various temptations and find themselves dealing with the friction that grows when Sin-Eater and geist fail to harmonize. Synergy takes the place of Morality, but is even less of a barometer of how “moral” a character is. It represents how well the Bound has integrated with the urges and drives of her geist, which may be a positive thing but not necessarily a good thing. Sin-Eaters rarely fall into a perfect fit with a geist. Indeed, a Sin-Eater who has just had a near-death experience and awakened to a wider supernatural world is hardly in a position to be a boon companion and stable part of the new relationship. Still, most Sin-Eaters do adjust, with a little cajoling from the geist and help from a krewe. In game terms, this means that the typical Sin-Eater starts with a Synergy score of 7. Over time, a Sin-Eater’s Synergy tends to fluctuate. Many Bound actually devolve in Synergy, because they find themselves pushed into the position of taking actions of dubious morality. While a Sin-Eater’s moral framework changes along with his new lease on life, the sheer stress of dealing with ghosts, traveling through the Underworld and arguing with other krewes means that something has to give. Most of the time, it’s one of the Sin-Eater’s principles. This usually isn’t so bad; it just means the Sin-Eater doesn’t necessarily live up to all of the expectations of the attendant geist. This friction can make some of the Sin-Eater’s supernatural talents harder to focus, since the geist can’t exert its influence as easily when it is not sympathetically bound to its host. A rare few Sin-Eaters strive to mesh their own goals to that of their geists to the point of increasing their Synergy. This rise in correspondence causes the two beings to grow ever closer. High Synergy can aid a Sin-Eater in performing some tasks, such as opening an Avernian Gate. Of course, some of those same actions may cause internal discord on their own. Often, a Sin-Eater who chooses to pursue strong Synergy with his geist must make sacrifices, by giving up options that other Sin-Eaters would take for granted. 'Synergy as Morality' Synergy is not a moral code. It is a measure of how unified a Sin-Eater is with his geist. Low Synergy represents discord, the mortal and the geist warring for control and fighting against one another’s impulses. High Synergy represents unity, the human host acting in a geist-like fashion and the geist anticipating the human mind. A high-Synergy Bound may be functionally sociopathic, while a low-Synergy Sin-Eater may have become that way by adhering to a moral code in spite of his geist’s wishes. It’s not that the concerns of a human code of Morality have vanished (though they might have). Rather, the bond with the geist becomes the most immediate and affecting element of a Sin-Eater’s persona. She is more likely to suffer mental degeneration from internal struggles against the passenger in her head than from becoming increasingly callous, because the geist is more immediate. As a Sin-Eater performs acts that violate the compact between living and dead, or that put him into conflict with his geist, he risks the decline of Synergy. These acts are called discord triggers: they represent events and actions that may cause geist and host to pull in separate directions. A discord trigger works mechanically much as the Morality “sin” it replaces. If a Bound performs an act rated at his Synergy value or less, the player rolls the number of dice indicated on the table below. If the roll succeeds, the Sin-Eater retains full accord with his geist, although both parties know the event in question tested the strength of their resolve. If the roll fails, the character suffers a loss of one point of Synergy, and may also gain a derangement, based on a roll of the character’s new Synergy rating. Failure of the follow-up Synergy roll results in the character gaining a new derangement of the Storyteller’s choosing, probably associated with the sin, the circumstances surrounding it, and the Sin-Eater’s Threshold. One significant event can also have a strongly deleterious impact on Synergy: death. Sin-Eaters who “die” a second (or third, or fourth…) time may be pushed back from the brink once more by the geist, but in doing so, the geist must expend significant energy and shunt the Sin-Eater’s death onto another person. The result is an automatic loss of Synergy, as well as a permanent reduction in the Sin-Eater’s maximum Synergy score by two points. A Sin-Eater who drops to a Synergy score of zero becomes one of the Wretched, a fractured shell of spirit and flesh totally out of synch with one another. Usually the geist and the mortal minds vie for dominance, with the geist frequently having the upper hand — a Wretched may spend much of his time in a fugue state, conscious for only a few small portions of the day when his geist retreats and relinquishes control. The following is a unique hierarchy of sins for use with Geist characters. 'ROLL RESULT S' When making a degeneration roll, use only the dice pool associated with the sin committed. Likewise, when rolling Synergy to check for a derangement, do not add other Attributes or traits. You may not spend Willpower to gain a +3 modifier on either kind of roll, though other situational bonuses or penalties may apply. *'Dramatic Failure: '''Not possible on either kind of roll. At no point is a chance roll made. *'Failure: On a degeneration roll, your character loses the struggle to maintain his standards of morality when faced with the reality of his sin. He loses one dot of Synergy. On a Synergy roll, he gains a derangement. *'Success: '''Your character emerges from his crisis of conscience with his sense of right and wrong intact. His Synergy is unchanged and he remains as sane as before. *'Exceptional Success: 'Your character re-dedicates himself to his convictions in the wake of his sin, driven by remorse and horror at the deeds he has committed. Not only does his Synergy remain unchanged on a degeneration roll, he gains a point of Willpower ''(which cannot exceed his Willpower dots). No special bonuses are gained for an exceptional Synergy roll when testing for a derangement. = = '''Sins 'Synergy 10' Opening an Avernian Gate/Entering the Underworld: Nobody really understands why this would affect the relationship with the geist, and can seriously cause problems with Bound of high Psyche who are attempting to maintain a perfect relationship. Some theorise that the geists attempt to avoid the Underworld (hence them offering the Bargain), possibly out of fear of the Kerberoi. Others think that they, as still technically living, should never enter the world of the dead. 'Synergy 9' Using Plasm from a Deathmask: Deathmasks are all that is left when a geist is destroyed; their "corpse". Using the plasm that they naturally (or unnaturally) accumulate disturbs the Bound (and still undestroyed) geist. Violating an Old Law: 'Old Laws are sometimes bizarre and nonsensical to many Bound, but they are of strong metaphorical relevance to that realm. Keeping to the Laws has one additional benefit: not drawing the ire of the Kerberous who rules the area... 'Synergy 8 Closing an Avernian Gate: In closing an Avernian Gate (permanently, not simply awaiting it to re-seal on its own), the Bound is denying their deathly role. 'Synergy 7' Destroying a Charm or a Fetter: All mementos have within them a measure of deathly power and energy (and, in the case of fetters, a still-functioning ghost). Destroying them is sometimes interpreted by the geist as a threat. 'Synergy 6' Destroying a Ghost/Avernian Gate: '''Even more then simply closing a Gate, destroying a Gate denies the Bounds deathly aspect, as well as potentially causing significant inconvenience to other Bound who need to visit the Underworld. Destroying a ghost is seen as akin to destroying a person, even if that person has been reduced to the state of a ghost; a Bounds job is often to help ghosts move on, not to destroy them outright. '''Ectophagia: Eating the corpus of a ghost grants plasm, but also can be considered a kind of cannibalism. After all, the Bound (and more specifically, the geist) are not too far from ghosts themselves. This sin is rarely committed; if nothing else ghosts taste foul. 'Synergy 5' Destroying a Vanitas: A Vanitas is another Bounds expression of their interpretation of death, life, and the realm in between that they occupy. Destroying that is akin to destroying a piece of art, and offends the bond between the Bound, as they are essentially indicating that they deny their existence as a Bound. Reviving a Dead Person: This sin is possibly why few Bound become doctors. No matter how much a Bound may value life, death is inevitable, and cannot, and should not, be stopped or reversed. Delaying through healthy eating and caution is one thing, reversing the phenomenal movement that occurs at the moment of death is a perversion many geists recoil from instinctively. This applies to using a crash cart to revive a clincally dead person, or to animating the dead through a forbidden (usually for good reason) ceremony. 'Synergy 4' Destroying a Memorabilia/Deathmask: A memorabilia is one of the most concentrated forms of death energy one can find in an object. Destroying one is similar in type to destroying any memento, but much greater in degree due to the rarity of such items. A deathmask is the corpse of a geist, and destroying it is similar to mutilating the corpse of a dead human: repulsive, and more then a little disturbing. Accidental Murder/Manslaughter: While some Bound (particularly Reapers), may find it necessary to remove some members of humanity from the world for the good of others, this is done deliberately and cleanly. Death is not something to be handed out lightly, and being careless enough that this can happen accidentally disturbs the bond. 'Synergy 3' Destroying a Keystone: A keystone is a semi-physical representation of the bond between a geist and its human. In destroying it, the Bound is disrespecting that bond, which makes the geist fear for the viability of the Bargain it struck. Destroying a Geist: Geists may be alien, archetypal beings who blur the line between ghost and spirit, but they are also possessed of a self-preservation instinct. Seeing (or being used to) destroy another geist causes significant distress, leading to the geist withdrawing from its human. 'Synergy 2' Torture: No matter how much a Bound may wish to cause the death of another individual, or how necessary it may be, this death must always be clean. Making the death slow, lingering and painful makes a mockery of the necessity of the death, and casts significant doubt as to the motivations of the Bound. Serial/Mass Murder: 'Some individuals need to be killed. This is a fact understood by many Bound, particularly Reapers. But death on a larger scale disturbs the veil between life and death to too great a degree: passing through curtains causes them to wave, but they soon settle again. Send too many people through too quickly, and they will rip off the hangers. 'Synergy 1 Suicide: '''The Bargain was struck at the moment of the humans death. The geist came to the human for a reason, and offered it life once again. Suicide is attempting to go back on this bargain, and may also be interpreted as an attack on the geist itself, causing the bond to be shaken on a fundamental level. '''Attempting to Destroy Ones Geist: While destroying a geist may deeply disturb ones geist, attempting to destroy ones own geist is such a fundamental blow to the Bargain that few can withstand it (not that many try). The geist will withdraw from its human host, out of self-preservation. 'Wretched' The pitiful Bound that fall to Synergy zero suffer total disruption of the bond with their geist. At this point they become a shell, constantly fighting for control of their own body with the geist. They frequently suffer blackouts of the times the geist was in control, waking up in places they don't recognise, with no memory of what they have done. <<<< BACK